Device for feeding pinion blanks



Nov. l12", 1945.

B. RosEN'GRl-:N

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Nov. 13, 1945. B. RosENGRx-:N

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DEVICE FOR FEEDING PINION BLANKS Filed June '7, 1944 {Sheets-Sheet 3 fw l Patented Nov. 13, 1945 2,389,083 DEVICE FOR FEEDING PINION BLANKS Bernhard Rosengren, Waterbury,

to The United States Time Corporation, bury, Conn., a corporat Conn., assigner Waterion of Connecticut Application June 7, 1944, Serial No. 539,227

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for feeding pinion-blanks to pinion-cutting machines.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved feeding-device by means of which pinion-blanks may be rapidly conveyed and accurately positioned between the spindles of a pinioncutting machine.

Another' object of this invention is to provide an improved pinion-blank feeding-device of simple efficient construction.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includes all features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art.

In the description and claims, the various parts and steps are identified by specic terms for con- Venience.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of the present disclosure, in which one way of carrying out the invention is shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View of Fig. 2 in the direction of arrow I but omitting the gear-cutting device for clearness;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional View taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. '7 is an end view in the direction of arrow l of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the feed-device support;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the slideway block of the feed-device support;

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the slide of the feed-device;

Fig. 11 is a perspective View of one of the gripping-j aw springs;

Fig. l2 is a perspective View in a detached position, of the gripping-jaws;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the slidewayblock cover-plate; and

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the pinion-blank positioning arm.

Referring to the drawings, the pinion-cutting machine 20 includes a base 2l, a head-stock 22, a tail-stock -23 and a milling-head 24 and a pinionof the support-block blank feeding-device 25 which is secured' to the base 2l of the pinion-cutting machine. All of the mechanism except the pinion-blank feeding-device 25 can be of any standard or other suitable construction and therefore will only be described to such an extent as is necessary or an aid to the understanding of the piston-blank feeding-device. The head-stock 22 carries a spindle 26 which is mounted for indexing or step-by-step rotation. The spindle 26 has a conical opening or hole 21 in its end adapted to receive a conical end 2S of the arbor-portion 29 of a pinion-blank 30 which has a main cylindrical portion 3l on which teeth are to be cut to form the pinion. The pinionblank 30 also has another arbor-portion 32 provided with a conical end 33 adapted to engage in a conical opening or hole 3i of a spindle 35 which is adapted for longitudinal sliding movement in opposite directions. The surface of the conical hole 2 of the spindle 26 has serrations (not shown) or other suitablemeans by which,`when the spindle 35 is forced endwise toward the pinion-blank 30 lto engage 0r grip the blank 30 between the spindles as illustrated in Fig. 1, the serrations bite into the conical end 23 of the arborportion 29 so that when the spindle 2S is given step-by-step indexing movement it compels the spindle-blank 3B to correspondingly rotate to the proper successive indexed positions for cutting teeth thereon by means of a milling-cutter 35 rotatably mounted in the milling-head 24, which latter is usually mounted for the milling-cutter to move longitudinally over the pinion-blank 30 and cut the teeth therein, a few of which are illustrated in Fig. 2. The flattened portion 3l on the spindle 26 serves to accommodate the milling-cutter 3'6 prior to the beginning, and at the end, of each forth and back tooth-cutting movement. Where it is desired to have the milling-cutter move up out of the way, this can be done at the completion of the cutting of the pinion, so as to provide ample lclearance for the mechanism hereinafter described which is to bring a new pinionblank into position for engagement by the spindle for cutting another pinion, all as is well understood by those skilled in the art. Y

The device or mechanism y25 for feeding the pinion-blanks to the ,pinion-cutting machine, includes `a main support-block 38 which is rmly seicured by screws 39 to the projecting-portion 40 of the base 2|. A slideWay-block 4i is pivoted to the `support-block 38 by means oi a pivot-pin 42 Which extends through holes d3 in the ears 44 vand 115 of the main support-block 3S and through va hole 46 vin the slideway-block 4I., and

is adapted to be secured in any of a desired range of angular positions about the pivot-pin 42 by a clamping-screw 41 which extends through the adjustment-slot 48 in the ear 45 of the supportblock 38 and threadedly engages in a threaded hole 49 in the slideway-block 4|. A positioningarm or limit-arm U is clamped in any desired adjusted angular position in a vertical plane by means of a screw 5| which extends through a hole 52 in the arm 50 and threadedly engages in the threaded opening 53 in the ear 44 of the support-block 38. 'I'he limit-arm 50 carries a positioning-pin or limit-pin 54 against the outer endface 55 of which the left end of the pinion-blank 30 engages, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

A slide 56 is mounted for free sliding movement in the slideway 51 of the slideway-block 4|. 'I'he slide 56 has an upstanding hand-knob 58 and has an end-slot 59 in which is a pair of complemental pinion-blank gripping-jaws 60 and 6| respectively pivoted by pivot-pins 62 and 63 which respectively extend through upper and lower holes 64 and 65 in the slide 56 and through holes 66 and 61 of the jaws 6|) and 6|. The jaws 60 and 6| are respectively pushed toward one another by the leaf-springs 68 and 69. And a pin 10 which is rmly secured in the hole 1| of the slide 56, serves to limit the movement of the jaws 60 and 6| toward one another so as to exactly center them in a predetermined position or location by engaging the arcuate limit-recesses 12 and 13 of the jaws 66 and 6|. The pin 10 has an extension 14 adapted to engage the forward end-surface 15 of the slideway-block 4| to limit the rearward movement of the slide 56. The leaf-springs 68 and69 have their rearmost ends secured by means of a pin 16 secured in the slide 56 and which extends through openings 11 in the leaf-springs, and the leaf-springs are prevented from coming off of the ends of the pin 16 by means of a coverplate 18 secured in place by screws 19. The coverplate also serves to hold the slide 56 in the slide- Way 51, and has a clearance-slot 80 for the spring 88 and a clearance-slot 8| for the sliding movement of the hand-knob 58. A limit-screw 82 is adjustably secured in threaded relation in the rear end of the slide `56, so that its head 83 can be adjusted to any desired position to engage against the rear face 84 of the slideway-block 4| to limit the forward movement of the slide 56.

Two pins 85 and 86 are firmly secured in the slide 56 and at their lower ends are secured to a crossbar 81, to which is secured one end of a coil-spring 88 which extends rearwardly in a hole or passage 89 in the slideway-block 4|, and has its rear end secured to a pin 90 which extends transversely through the hole 9|.

The jaws 66 and 6| respectively have complemental oppositely-concave gripping-recesses 9| and 92 to properly engage and grip the cylindrical surface of the main portion 3| of the pinion-blank 36.

Normally, the slide 56 is held in the rearmost position indicated by the rearmost dotted outline in Fig. 3, by the spring 88, and while the slide is in this position, a pinion-blank 3|) is pushed endwise by hand or otherwise, into the cylindrical opening formed by the oppositely-concave gripping-recessesl 9| and 92 of the jaw-members 60 and 6| until the end 28 of the pinion-blank engages against the face 55 of the limit-pin 54. The operator thereupon' engages the hand-knob 58 and pushes the slide 56 forward until the handknob 58 reaches the full forward position indicated by the forwardmost dotted knob outline in Fig. 3, the forward motion being limited by the head 83 of the screw 82 engaging against the rear end-face 84 of the slide-way block 4|, in which position the longitudinal axis of the pinion-blank 30 will be substantially in line with the axis of the spindles 26 and 35, or so nearly in line therewith that the corneal end-holes or recesses 21 and 34 of the spindles 26 and 35, when they respectively engage the opposite conical arbor ends 28 and 33 of the pinion-blank 30, will force the pinion-blank into perfectly aligned position as a result of the camming action of the conical recesses against the conical ends of the arbors of the pinion-blank. This camming action is accomplished by moving the spindle 35 endwise (automatically or otherwise as is well known in the art)l toward the spindle 26, to thus bring about the axial aligning of the pinion-blank and the gripping of the same between the ends of the opposite spindles 26 and 35, whereupon the milling-cutter 36 cuts the teeth of the pinionblank in a way well known by those skilled in the art. As soon as the spindle 35 has moved endwise and gripped the pinion-blank, the operator releases the hand-knob 58 so that the spring 88 retracts the slide 56 to its rearmost position, and in this movement of the slide from its foremost position it will be noted from Fig. 3 that the grip- Ding-jaws 60 and 6| open oppositely as they ride or cam over the cylindrical surface of the main body-portion 3| of the pinion-blank 38. And as soon as the jaws 60 and 6| move rearwardly out of engagement with the pinion-blank, the jaws are forced together in their original predetermined position for reception of another pinionblank.

The invention may be carried out in other speciiic ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. In combination: pinion-cutting means having relatively-oppositely movable spindles adapted to grip the opposite ends of a pinion-blank and rotate it about its longitudinal axis; a feed-device support; a feed-device mounted on said support for movement to forward and retracted positions, and including a pair of gripping-jaws oppositely movable toward one another to grip a pinion-blank with its longitudinal axis extending transversely of the general plane of gripping movement of said gripping-jaws; grippingjaw limit-means adapted to limit the movement of each gripping-jaw toward the other to cause the longitudinal axis of the pinion-blank to occupy a predetermined location when gripped by said gripping-jaws and when said feed-device is in retracted position; and pinion-blank limitmeans located in a position to be engaged by the end of a pinion-blank when it is pushed endwise between said gripping-jaws when saidfeed-device is in retracted position; said Yfeed-'device when moved to said forward position causing the pinion-blank to move away from said pinionblank limit-means and causing the longitudinal axis of the pinion-blank to substantially coincide with said axis of rotation and permitting said spindles to grip the opposite ends of the pinionblank; and said gripping-jaws being adapted to gripping-jaws into gripping position; grippingjaw limit-means adapted to limit the movementof each gripping-jaw toward the other to cause the longitudinal axis of the pinion-blank to octransversely of the cupy a predetermined location when gripped by said gripping-jaws and when said feed-device is in retracted position; and pinion-blank limitmeans located in a position to be engaged by the end of a pinion-blank when it is pushed endwise between said gripping-jaws when said feed-device is in retracted position; said feed-device when moved to said forward position causing the pinion-blank to move away from said pinionblank limit-means and causing the longitudinal axis of the pinion-blank to substantially coincide with said axis of rotation and permitting said spindles to grip the opposite ends of the pinionblank; and said gripping-jaws being adapted to move against the action of said spring-means away from one another away from their gripping positions.

BERNHARD ROSENGREN. 

